A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Wolmoor ' was a. small estate or manor in L.ithom 

 which early in the thirteenth centur)' gave a surname 

 to its owners. These granted part of it to Bur- 

 scough.' Another small estate called Taldeford, later 

 Tawdbridge, gave its name to the owners.' 



BLTTHE was held in 1 1 S9 by Geoffrey Travers,' 

 whose son Henry, called ' de Blythe,' by his charter 

 released to Prior Benedict of Burscough all his claim 

 to mastfall in Tarlscough, Greetby, and Burscough ; " 

 Henry also gave to the priory a watercourse running 

 through his Holme to the priory mill of the Bayes.' 

 John and Robert de Blythe occur among the names of 

 subscribers to the stipend of a chaplain at Ormskirk 

 in 1366/ and the latter also in the Poll Tax Roll of 

 1 38 1.' John de Blythe attested Scarisbrick charters 

 in I 399 and 1401, and was the father of Roger, who 

 in I 397 was charged with breaking into the parsonage 

 house at Crossens.' From him descended Roger 

 Blythe, whose daughter and heir Margaret by her 

 marriage with John Blakelache (or Blackledge) con- 

 veyed the estate to this family.'" 



Evan Blackledge" by his will, made in July, 1565, 

 desired to be buried in Ormskirk church 'on the 

 north side of an overlay or stone under which Bishop 

 Blackledge was buried.' " His brother John succeeded 

 him, and in i|;76 made an exchange of lands with 

 Ralph Langley." He was followed by Evan Black- 

 ledge, apparently his son, who in 1 593 made a settle- 

 ment upon the marriage of his son John with 

 Margaret, daughter of Henry Walton of Little Hoole." 

 Evan died at Lathom on 31 January, 1612-13, seised 

 of Blythe Hall and other lands, John, his son and heir, 



being then aged forty-two years and more.''' John 

 Blackledge contributed to the subsidy of 1628." He 

 was succeeded by another Evan, probably his son, 

 who died in or before 1658, leaving three sons — 

 John, James, and Thomas. The first of these married 

 in 1658 Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Jodrell of 

 Leek," but died without issue before 1683, and w.is 

 succeeded by his brother James, a pewtcrer of 

 London. The latter's son Evan, described as 'of the 

 parish of St. John, Wapping, gentleman, and of 

 Blythe Hal!,' sold the Lathom estate to William Hill 

 of Burscough in 1698. William Hill, junior, in 

 I 76 1 conveyed the estate to William Shaw and John 

 Sephton, probably as trustees." About 1 800 it was 

 purchased by Thomas Langton, who in 1826 sold it 

 to Edward Bootle Wilbraham, from whom it has 

 descended to the present earl of Lathom." 



A family bearing the local name of Ellerbeck 

 once resided in Lathom ; one of them became prior of 

 Burscough.'" 



Alton or Olton, later New Park, is mentioned in 

 1189 in the charter of Burscough Priory. The name 

 suggests an early place of settlement in the township. 

 In 1 198 it appears to have been a hamlet."' There 

 was a small ford over Edgeacre (Eller) Brook, lying to 

 the south of Bl}the, which is more than once described 

 as the ford which leads from Alton to Harleton.*' In 

 course of time, perhaps in the fifteenth century, it had 

 ceased to be a hamlet, and the lords of Lathom turned 

 it into a park, called Lady Park, or New Park."' The 

 earls of Derby occasionally kept house here."' It now 

 forms part of the Cross Hall property. 



' Wolvcmor, 1202 \ Wllemor, <-. 1210 ; 

 WImorc, c. 1270. 



* Dep. Keeper 1 Rep. ixxvi, App. 4, p. 

 197. There were both Great and Little 

 Wolmoor, which lay to the west of Lei- 

 kethcheit or Leiiccstheith (Laithwaite). 

 Sec also Final Cone, i, 16. 



* In the thirteenth century Augustine 

 de Taldeford gave land to Burscough 

 Priory ; Burscough Reg. n. liv. At Lan- 

 caster Assizes in 1246 Siegrith recovered 

 seisin of 7 acres of land against Augustine 

 dc Taldeford, of which her brother Robert, 

 son of Otho, died seised ; Assize R. 404. 

 Hugh of the Fratcy, great-grandson of 

 Augustine, afterwards held this land of 

 the priory at a rent of izd. yearly ; Bur- 

 scough Reg. fol. 22. 



Robert de Lathom granted to Richard, 

 son of Richard de Taldeford, certain land 

 by the river ; Towneley's MS. OO. n. 

 1276 ; the boundary began at the Tawd 

 on the south, followed the hedge to the 

 king's highway, and so to Tawd again on 

 the east, thence ascending the stream to 

 the starting point. 



In 1323 Emma, wife of Robert de 

 Taldeford, made a claim for lands occu- 

 pied by Sir Robert de Dalton and Mary 

 his wife, and Robert de Bispham ; 

 Assize R. 41 5, m. 4. Robert de Talde- 

 ford in 1332 contributed 2J. ^d, to the 

 subsidy ; Excb. Ljy Subs. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), 25. In 136- Hugh, 

 son of Robert de Taldeford, claimed cer- 

 tain land in Lathom from John de 

 Bispham and Cecily his wife ; De Banc. 

 R. 429, m. 226i. 



■* Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 350. The land 

 was bounded on the west by the land of 

 Stephen the Bald in Burscough. 



^ Burscough Reg. fol. ~b. 



« Ibid. fol. S». 



" Excb. Ljy Subs. (Rec. Soc), 109, 

 116. 



^ Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle, 1 30, n. 24. 



» Pal. of Lane. Plea R. i, b. 18. 



^*' Lathom House D. box 2, bdle. 9 b. 

 The deed (dated 1488) recites that Mar- 

 garet, daughter of Roger Blythe, sister and 

 heir of John Blythe, and wife of John 

 Blakelache of Lathom, had, in conjunction 

 with her husband, leased to Thomas, ille- 

 gitimate son of John Blythe, all her in- 

 heritance in Lathom, Burscough, Aughton, 

 and L'plitherland. One of the witnesses 

 was Huan Blakelache, bishop of Sodor 

 and Man (14S- to 1510), who is buried 

 in Ormskirk church. 



" Probably the Evan Blackledge who 

 succeeded his father Henry in 1538; Duchy 

 Lane. Ct. R. -g, n. 1061. 



*^ Lathom House D. box 2, bdle. f)b. 

 From its date the introduction is of in- 

 terest ; ' I bequeath my soul to Almighty 

 God, His blessed mother Saint Mary, and 

 to all the holy company of heaven.' To 

 John Blackledge, his brother and heir, he 

 bequeathed his lands in Lathom, Aughton, 

 &c., and various furniture to remain in 

 Blackledge Hall in Lathom as heirlooms 

 for ever. Others mentioned are Alice his 

 wife, Richard his brother, and Evan his 

 son ; John son of Henry, another bro- 

 ther ; Alice his sister (wife of Thomas 

 Ayscough), and William her son ; also 

 Ralph Langley, husband of another sister, 

 and Evan their son. The vicar of Orms- 

 kirk was one of the witnesses, and the 

 will was proved at Warrington on i 7 April, 

 1567. 



" Lathom House D. The lands, lying 

 in Aughton, were called Blythe Meadow, 

 &c. showing that they had descended with 

 the Blythe estate. 



" Duchy of Lane. Plea. Eliz.cxcvi, B. 2. 



^' Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), i, 237. Blythe Hall was held 

 of the earl of Derby in socage by fealty 

 and iQs. td. rent \ his lands in Burscough 



were held of the lately dissolved priory of 

 Burscough by fealty and z\d. rent ; and 

 a messuage and lands in Aughton of 

 Gabriel Hcsketh by fealty and 21. ijrf. 

 rent ; the clear annual value is given as 

 561. id. i« Norris D. (B.M.). 



" D. of Settlement (1655) at Lathom 

 House, 



'" Deed at Lathom House. William 

 Hill in 1792 contributed to the land tax 

 for Blythe Hall. 



" Britten, Beauties of England [l.ancs.), 

 223. 



"" William de Shornington (? Sherving- 

 ton) and Alice his wife claimed her dower 

 in a messuage and plough-land, &c. in 

 Lathom from John de Ellerbeck in 1 3 19 ; 

 De Banc. R. 229, m. 213 and 2421/. 



*' Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 353. 



^ Ibid. A charter of Sir Robert de 

 Lathom, made about 1250 to 1260, refers 

 to the northern boundary of Alton. It is 

 a grant to Burscough Priory of land for- 

 merly held by Stephen son of Richard dc 

 Alton, within bounds beginning at the ford 

 of Harleton, ascending the watercourse to 

 Pilotcroft, round the croft to the water- 

 course, and by this as far as the church 

 road coming from Alton, &c. ; Burscough 

 Reg. fol. 3. 



One of the subscribers to the stipend of 

 a priest at Ormskirk in 1366 was Alice 

 de Olton ; Exeh. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc), 

 109. 



^ See the extracts from the accounts of 

 1 523 given above. 



" Derby Household Books (Chet. Soc), 

 19. Before the first siege of Lathom the 

 countess of Derby was invited to meet 

 the Parliamentary leaders at ' New Park, 

 a house of her lord's, a quarter of a mile 

 from Lathom ;' Ci-uil IVar Traeis (Chet. 

 Soc), 164. The editor of the Household 

 Bo'As states that it was pulled down in the 

 eighteenth century. 



